


Irritation Line

by Sebtea



Series: Lines of Life [1]
Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, cute bondy-ness that i may expand on and turn into a relationship, fluffy fluff, mostly cute friendness, pre relationshipness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-03-12
Packaged: 2018-03-17 14:19:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3532502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sebtea/pseuds/Sebtea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone had an amount of Tony that they could handle. It was sort of like his superpower to fine how much that was. It was something he enjoyed doing cause it gave him a line that he could toe. It was different with Clint.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Irritation Line

**Author's Note:**

> Edited on Feb. 15, 2016

Everyone had an amount of Tony that they could handle. Tony like to fondly call it the Starking point. It’s not to say that he always went out of his way to find people’s Starking points, while he had when he been younger. But there was a reason for that. He liked finding the Starking point the first time so that he would know how far he would be able to push them before they got angry. While doing this he found out about the irritation line. It was something that Tony had realised appeared on Rhodey’s and Pepper’s faces. It was like a warning of the impending yelling. It was like the point before the Starking point. Meaning he didn't have to risk losing friends just to find that point.

After doing some more 'tests' with the Starking point and irritation line Tony found that everyone had it. And it made it easier for him to toe the line of the Starking point by looking for the irritation line. Usually it appeared in the forehead, like a wrinkle that slowly got more defined the more Tony pushed. But sometimes it appeared on the chin and once or twice it had appeared on someone’s cheek.

He found that line on everyone. Even all the Avengers. It took a moment with Thor and Bruce. But Steve always seemed to have that line on his forehead when he was talking to Tony. Getting Steve to the Starking point wouldn’t be that hard. The only people so far that he had yet to see that line on was Natasha and Clint.

Natasha because Tony was almost ninety nine percent sure that she was just a robot. Which he knew wasn’t true when he one day found himself pinned to the wall and her whispering threats in Russian and English. It was then that he found out her irritation line was just her blank face. He avoided her for a week afterwards.

Clint was different from Natasha. Sure, he was still a spy. But he smiled and laughed and got little crinkles in the corner of his eyes. Laugh lines. He had dimples that made him look boyish and young. He was like an open book. He had ever emotion play across his face. But no matter what Tony did, he never got an irritation line. More often than not he got clever words shot back at him with a flash of something in those endless depth of blue eyes.

Natasha warned him that he was playing a dangerous game. He ignored her. He was always playing a dangerous game.

He liked playing dangerous games

 

“Apollo! Is something wrong with your eyes?” Tony called as he entered the gym. Clint and him worked out together sometimes. Mostly after the assassin had finished his target practice. Today Tony was surprised to find that almost known of the targets had arrows in them and that Clint was just standing there currently holding his bow and arrow like he was ready to shoot. Tony frowned and moved towards his friend. “Clint?” He called. The name foreign in his mouth. He was so used to the endless stream of nicknames that he had for the archer.

Clint didn’t move even as Tony got closer. He could see that the other was taking deep breaths but he was shaking. Either like his body was going to give out on him or like he had been holding that bow for a lot longer than he should.

He frowned, “Clint? Merida?” He hardly noticed he repeated a name as he watched Clint relax. (He never repeated a nickname until he found the right one that fit, like with Rhodey, Pepper and Happy.) Clint lowered the bow and breathed for a moment before looking over to Tony.

“Phil’s alive.”

The always smiling face had never looked so defeated. Even when he was in the hospital, he was spending a lot of his time trying to get out and smiling and being pleasant to everyone. It was eerie to see him so blank. Like he had just been drained of everything important. Tony didn’t like it. He wanted the other to be smiling. And then like he did with most of his relationships; he fucked up. He did the fatal flaw of running the numbers in his head. He ran the different outcomes that he could do and what Clint would say and which would be the most likely to get the other to smile.

“Well someone’s’ going to have tell him that he’s no longer part of Fury’s super-secret boy band.”

It was the wrong thing to say.  

He was suddenly on his back gasping for air as he stared up at Clint. He had never seen this face on Clint either. It was very clear that he was angry and this was his Starking point. But there was no lead up. There had been no irritation line. He was almost tempted to whine about it but there was a hand on his throat persuading him not to.

“Don’t you ever say that again. He may have a new team, but he is family and he will always be part of the Avengers.” Clint spit before letting Tony go and moving off of him. Tony didn’t watch him leave, but god was he regretting letting super spies live with him.

               

“I told you.”

He frowned at the voice and blinked. He had been laying where Clint had left him and had yet to move. Endless amounts of time could have gone by, but he wouldn’t be able to tell you how much. His mind was a mess of numbers as he tried to figure out what he had said wrong. There was also a mess of equations that seemed to always be running through his mind, ever changing. So it took him a moment to focus on Natasha’s face.

“Thanks for that.” He said bitterly as he sat up and rubbed the back of his head.

“He didn’t know.”

Tony made a noise and looked over at the spy he has slowly started to accept as his friend. “He didn’t know?” He echoed and got a head shake, his mind caught on to the conversation and his frown deepened. “He’s a super spy. How didn’t he know?”

“Sometimes it’s just easier to swallow the lie.” Natasha doesn’t mention that Clint hasn’t been at his peak since the Loki situation, that was none of Tony’s concern for the moment.

“But you found out?” Tony questioned, though there really was only one question on his mind. What was Clint’s irritation line? What had gotten him to the Starking point? And were they still friends?

Natasha shrugged, a natural motion that she had did more as a reflex then a real answer. “You found out too. How come you didn’t tell anyone?”

Tony blinked at her, he knew the answer to that. He had figured the two people that needed to know, already knew. And he was wrong. He had done the math wrong. Thinking back on it the times that he had hinted at it he had seen that flash in Clint’s eyes. That look of something else. He had never seen it any other time before, had he?

He needed to go check.

Standing he nodded at Natasha as he made his way to his workshop muttering softly to himself as he went.

First thing he did when he got to his workshop was have JARVIS check the vents. Once it was clear that Clint wasn’t in them he went about pulling up all the video feeds he had. “JARVIS, narrow it down to ones with conversations between me and Clint.” He watched as JARVIS did that and he nodded, “Isolate ones where I mention Age… Phil.” He waited the second before playing one of the remaining videos and watched the conversation and the second he mention Phil, and there! He could see it. Was that it? That was new.

He had never knew someone who’s irritation line was a whole person.

Going through the other video files he had, he never saw that flash... that emotion unless it was for Phil. He wondered why Phil was so important to Clint. He thought they were friends enough for Clint to tell him these things.

“Sir, it would seem that Agent Barton is in the vents and making his way towards the workshop. How should I proceed?”

Tony blinked at the face before him before waving away all the holograms. “Let him in.” He said before moving to his tinker project of the week. Which was something that looked vaguely like a laptop, but which Tony continued to deny was a laptop.

He had no real clue as to what. But hoped it was awesome-r than a laptop. 

It took him a couple minutes to focus on his tinker project and it seemed like just as he was getting into it when a vent opened and the soft sound of Clint jumping down from it followed it. As well as JARVIS helpfully announcing, “Agent Barton is now in the workshop sir.”

He turned to face Clint and smiled at him. It was his huge cocky smile. The smile that he wore like a mask that he never wanted people to see through. But he was sure Clint saw through it. He was sure that everyone in the tower learned how to see through it. “Hey Cupid, you come to watch a genius at work?”

Clint started at his friend and tried not to sigh at the smile that came to Tony’s face. That wasn’t the smile he had come to know. That was the media smile. The smile that he used to keep people at bay. He thought they had gotten past that. He thought that he and Tony were friends.

He must have hurt the other a lot more than he had thought.

Or maybe it was the fact that Tony called him Cupid. Tony was always coming up with different nicknames for everyone. And Clint had learned that Tony didn’t like having just one nickname for a person. No, he loved having multiple and he never used the same one twice. So it was telling when he did.

Clint almost wanted to fall into the easy banter that Tony was offering. But he knew it wasn't going to be the same so he merely shook his head, “No Tony. You know why I’m here.”

Tony raised an eyebrow the media mask still firmly in place. “I don’t think I do. But if you’re not here to gawk in amazement,” he turned away and continued to mindlessly do work. “I have to work.”

“It’s a sore spot.” Clint said making Tony pause. It was hardly for a second but Clint noticed it. It was his job to notice.

“We’ve all got those.” Tony answered back not looking up from his work.

“And everyone else knows to avoid them. Expect for an egomaniac of a genius that likes to poke at everyone’s sore spots.” Clint rebutted almost sounding fond.

Tony sighed. He had to fine people’s sore spots so that he could learn to avoid them later. So that he could use them against them if worse came to worse. He figured the super spy would get that. Natasha seemed to. He shrugged, “You know me. I’m an asshole. It’s what I do.”

Clint chuckled, “It’s what I do. For someone so smart, I’m surprised that you did notice that I noticed what you were doing.” Tony frowned and looked over at Clint. “I’m a spy, Tony and subtly is not your forte.”

“I can’t tell with you. You have no irritation line.” Tony said sounding like a petulant child.

“Spy, Tony. It’s my job not to have one.”

“But how am I supposed to tell if you’re upset or not?” Tony asked upset that not only had Natasha beaten his theory but so did Clint. He wondered if Agent did too.

“I’ll tell you?” Clint offered causing Tony to shoot him a look that said he didn’t believe Clint. “We can come up with a safe word so that you know you’re getting to me.”

Tony’s face melted into relief and he nodded. Why couldn’t everyone be that easy to help him out? It made life a lot easier for Tony. God, was he glad he had Clint.

Clint paused to think about it, “Do you know sign language?”

Tony shook his head, he had noticed that Clint read mouth and had hearing aids but he had yet to see the other use sign language so he had never thought of learning it. Now he was going to.

Clint nodded, “Okay the sign for ‘bitch please’ is pretty simple so we could do that.”

Tony nodded back a smile coming to his face, “That sounds goods. But you do know that once I know this sign Imma use it all the time?”

“I figured, but it only means that I’m getting upset when I use it and only when it’s directed at you okay?” Tony nodded and then watched Clint sign. He placed his index finger, with the rest of his fingers lined up straight against his chin, in front of his mouth. His thumb tucked against the palm. He then pushed his hand forward. “That’s bitch. And instead of saying please we’ll say off off.” Tony watched as the other simply waved both his hands twice in something similar to a shooing motion.

Tony smiled and mimicked the action. Clint nodded and corrected a thing or two until Tony was doing it properly. “Well this is fun. Wanna teach me some more swears?”

Clint laughed, “I’d love to. But I gotta go see Phil.” Tony deflated a bit and nodded.

“Yeah, okay. You go do that. I’ll be here and f I start to teach myself the only person who can be blamed for missing out on all the fun, is you.” Tony shot back trying to push away the feeling that he was being replaced the feeling. Or even worse the feeling that he had just been a replacement all along.

“I’ll quiz you when I come back.” Clint teased. He didn’t know what he could have said to make Tony understand that Phil was different. He also wasn’t sure what he could say to Phil to understand that Tony was different. They were both different. And at one point there was only two people that Clint could trust. Now there were three.


End file.
